


Heartcells Are Better Than Braincells

by 24601problems



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Broken Bones, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump, hurt comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24104296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/24601problems/pseuds/24601problems
Summary: Peter gets in a bit of a situation. He may not have many braincells, but he makes up for it by having many heartcells.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 11
Kudos: 90





	Heartcells Are Better Than Braincells

“Well, well, well, if it isn't my old friend, the dawning realization that I fucked up real bad.” Peter says to absolutely no one. 

Currently, he’s falling from the side of a building. Casually. He wasn’t too far up, only about 15 stories, so sure he may break a bone or two and it’s going to suck, but it won’t be life-threatening. 

This morning, he had woken up happy. Which not to sound depressing, but it was a rare instance. So, determined to have a great day, he had put on his favorite shirt, ate his favorite cereal, and played his ‘Happy Times’ playlist on the way to school. He paid attention in all of his classes, the cafeteria was serving his favorite school meal — pizza, and Flash had actually been pretty bearable throughout the day. 

So obviously it meant that something was up and bound to ruin his day. Peter didn’t like to say he was pessimistic, just realistic. He had Parker luck, and nothing great lasted for long. He had come to terms with it. 

And yet, for whatever reason, he hadn’t checked the fluid in his webshooters before going out to patrol the streets of Queens. 

So here he was, falling 15 stories from the side of a building into an alleyway, and contemplating what the best way to land would be. He was too far from the building to stick to it, so what really was the safest way to land? 

This is going to suck. This is going to suck so much.

**_Crunch._**

Well, it wasn’t that way. 

“Holy mother fuck!” Peter yelled as his body made contact with the concrete. His right leg had taken the brunt of the landing, and Peter just knew that it meant his leg was definitely broken. 

“Shitballs, this is not very cash money at all” He clutched his leg in pain, trying to blink back the tears in his eyes. 

“Calling Mr. Stark” Karen, his AI said. 

“No no no no, Karen. No calling Mr. Stark!” Peter exclaimed and moved slightly, jostling his leg and making him bite his tongue to avoid crying out in pain. 

“Engaging ‘Peter Screwed the Pooch’ protocol.” Karen said with no emotion. 

Next to the radiating pain in his right leg, the only thing he could think of was how much hot water he was going to be in. Was all of this an accident? Yes, it absolutely was. But even Peter could admit that in this situation he was being a little careless. 

Could he have checked his web fluid before leaving? You bet. But of course he didn’t. Could he have not climbed up a building for no reason? Absolutely. But he didn’t do anything of those things so here he was, laying in a nasty alley in the middle of Queens, broken leg, and a mentor who would be livid.

“What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck Peter????” Tony demanded the second the call connected. 

“Okay, so I’m in a bit of a situation.” Peter admitted painfully. 

“Oh, you don’t say?” Tony questioned sarcastically. “Because F.R.I.D.A.Y. is showing a break in your right leg. Actually make that two breaks because evidently your fibula and tibia are broken.” 

“Is that why my leg hurts? Hm, weird.” Peter quipped before he could stop himself. 

“Not the time, Pete.” said back. Peter could practically feel the anger seething off of him through the voice call. “Stay where you are.” 

“Sure thing.” Peter mumbled 

“Mr. Stark has hung up.” Karen responded. 

“Great.” God this sucked. He sat up and looked down at his leg that was swelling more by the minute. Parker luck. He was having a great day, but he should have known it was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped. 

Laying back down on the filthy cement, Peter could hear the thrusters of the Iron Man suit getting closer by the second. Looking to his left, he saw a couple of ants in the crack of the sidewalk. 

“There’s my ride boys,” He said to the ants and laughed at his own joke. It really wasn’t funny, but his leg hurt like hell and making jokes was his go-to coping mechanism and distraction. 

When the Iron Man suit landed and the face plate slid up, he saw the furrowed eyebrows and tightly drawn lips of Tony Stark. 

“Beautiful day outside for an afternoon fly through the sky, isn’t it?” Peter joked. 

“How.” Tony grilled. It wasn’t so much of a question but more of a demand. 

“Can you be more specific? How is the sky blue? How are you able to fly? How—“ Peter shut up when he saw Tony’s eyes burning holes through his skull. 

“Oh! How this,” He gestured to his leg, “happened? It seems I ran out of web fluid suddenly while scaling a building. I think the rest is pretty self explanatory.” Peter explained casually. 

Sniffing, and crossing his arms, Tony stepped forward toward the teen laying on the ground. He looked at the leg that was broken without touching it, and thought about what the best course of action would be. He had already called Bruce to meet him at the tower’s med bay, but the question was what would be the best way to Peter back to the tower without too much pain. 

“Fri, any suggestions?” Tony asked. 

“Yes sir, if you detach the right leg from your suit and place it on Peter, I can immobilize and splint the limb so that it doesn’t move too much. You will have to carry him while flying.” The A.I. answered

“Sounds like a plan babe. Let’s get to it.” Looking down, Tony gave Peter some directions. “Don’t move. I’m not going to lie, this is probably going to hurt,” He said sympathetically. 

Nodding, Peter did his best to brace himself, suddenly quiet because he knew the pain of his leg being straightened wasn’t going to be pretty. Once the tech was free of Tony’s right leg, Peter bit his tongue and balled his fist lightly. The first part of the leg was braced and formed to the top portion of his leg above the knee and hadn’t moved his leg much, so wasn’t bad. 

Once the tech expanded to his knee and beyond, Peter couldn’t help but let out a pained gasp and clench his fist. Biting his fist, he let a few choice words slip out of his mouth while Tony kneeled beside him, whispering reassurances that it would feel better soon.

“Okay Pete, you ready for me to pick you up?” Tony asked once the tech had assembled around the teen’s leg and he had a moment to breathe. 

With tears in his eyes that he was desperately trying to blink back, Peter nodded, not trusting his voice. Tony gently picked him up, but he still felt a terrible pain in his entire right leg. Gently lifting off the ground, soon they were both in the air and flying toward Stark Tower. 

8 minutes of a painful ride later, they had arrived at the Med Bay portion of the tower and were being greeted by Bruce. 

“He’s all yours, Jolly Green. What do you need?” Tony asked. 

“Hey Peter, hey Tony. I’m going to need to get some new x-rays and the suit needs to come off so I can access the leg to assess,” Bruce responded. 

“Not a problem,” Tony answered and hit the spider emblem on Peter’s chest so the suit would expand and slip off easily. If Bruce had to cut it, that was fine. But he would prefer not to. “Hey Fri? Take the Iron Man leg off, please” Tony requested. Soon, the metal was retracting into itself and joining the suit that was parked across the room. 

“Peter, how’s your pain?” Bruce asked while typing on a StarkPad. 

“Uh, not great. It definitely hurts.” Peter gritted out through clenched teeth. 

Humming, Bruce typed a few more things before getting up from his chair. “Okay, let me give you some pain medicine, then we will take an x-ray of that leg and go from there. Sound like a plan?” 

Peter nodded in agreement and squeezed his eyes shut. Soon, he felt the prick of a needle in his arm that was Bruce starting and IV. Sweet relief followed closely, but it was just enough to take the edge off of the pain while Bruce took images of his broken leg. Tony stayed silent in the room the entire time.

10 minutes of silence only interrupted by Bruce talking to himself, Peter was finally given a verdict.

“So your leg is definitely broken in two places,” Bruce started to explain and projected the x-ray images from the StarkPad so the two others could see what he was talking and pointing at. “As you can see here,” he gestured, “and here are clean breaks. Now luckily, you landed in just the right way because neither of the bones were displaced. In most cases, we would probably perform surgery to ensure that the bones wouldn’t shift, but since anesthesia is so tricky with you, Peter, we are going to go a more traditional route. Are you guys following so far?” 

Both Tony and Peter nodded, waiting for the doctor to continue. 

“So what we are going to do is put a cast on your leg, which would traditionally be done anyway. However, since we are skipping surgery, it’s going to take a bit longer than it normally would to heal.” Peter closed his eyes and sighed, already knowing he wasn’t liking where this was going. 

Bruce continued, “With your healing factor and rate, I’d probably say that we are looking at about a month in what we call a full length cast that goes from the ball of your foot, to about here on your thigh,” Bruce finished explained and pointed at his own leg to where the cast of Peter’s leg would end. 

“A month?!” Peter exclaimed as he sat up. 

“Afraid so. It’s a tricky spot for the break, and while the bones will have fused in about two weeks, we want to make sure they finish healing correctly. To explain it simply, your bones will get what we call ‘sticky’ in about two weeks and will stick to each other to begin the healing process. Once they are joined, they will need to become more dense and solidify.” Bruce explained kindly. 

“Oh my god this is going to suck so badly,” Peter groaned and let himself fall back onto the bed. 

Tony finally spoke up, “And you’re sure we shouldn’t do the surgery?” 

“I’d rather not risk him waking up and testing our anesthesia calculations if we don’t have to. I’m still going to give him some more pain medicine to get us through the casting process while I position his leg,” Bruce sympathetically replied. 

Humming in agreement, Tony sat down on the chair next to Peter’s bed and stared at the teen while Bruce gathered the necessary supplies to get to work. 

Peter refused to make eye contact but could feel Mr. Stark’s gaze as if he was waiting for an explanation that Peter had already given. This went on for about 6 minutes of awkward silence. 

“All things considered — “ Peter started to explain. 

“What have you considered Pete? Because I’m estimating it was approximately 3 things. I’m at a loss for words!” Tony yelled back and stood up. 

Before he could filter it, Peter said, “Despite being lost for words, you’ve managed to come up with some apparently.” 

“Bruce? Text me when you’re done.” Tony said to the other man in the room before walking out. 

“Peter…” Bruce reprimanded softly. 

“It just came out Bruce. I honestly can’t shut myself up sometimes.” Peter pleaded and ran his hands through his hair. “Man, this sucks!” 

Bruce hummed in agreement and continued to wrap Peter’s leg in a cast from his toes to his thigh. 

Peter closed his eyes and let himself drift off as Bruce worked on his leg. 

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Waking up, Peter felt a little groggy but exceptionally thirsty. Groaning, he stretched in a bed that definitely wasn’t his, but stopped when his right leg wouldn’t move. Pausing, he tried to recall what he remembered before falling asleep, and the second he remembered the fall and that he was in med bay, he could feel the pain in his leg. 

He felt a straw touch his lips and greedily drank the water that was offered to him. Opening his eyes, he saw Mr. Stark standing next his bed holding the cup. 

“Hey, come here often?” Peter joked, unsure of what to say. 

“Unfortunately I do. I’m responsible for a teen superhero that has zero self-preservation skills.” Tony retorted and put the cup down on a table. 

Peter nodded and looked down, unsure of what to say. To be honest, his mind was still pretty foggy and his brain felt like sludge. The sweet pain meds. 

“What were you thinking? I’ve told you a thousand times to check your web fluid before you go out to avoid this **_exact_** situation” Tony asserted. 

“I didn’t think—” Peter started. 

“Exactly! You didn’t think!” Tony angrily interjected and breathed heavily through his nose, trying to contain his anger. 

“Mr. Stark, I may not have many braincells, but I make up for it by having many heartcells.” Peter slurred. 

“I don’t, kid… what?” 

“Oh my god I’m sorrrryyyy Mr. Stark! That was so mean, you don’t have a heart, just the science thing.” Peter burst into tears. Tony froze for a couple of seconds. 

“Bruce?!” Tony yelled, hoping the man would hear him. “I am not emotionally available enough to be equipped to deal with this…” Tony mumbled to himself. 

“Yeah?” Bruce ran in to the room. “Aw no , Tony what did you do to him?” Bruce questioned with concern laced in his voice, checking Peter over. 

“Me? Absolutely not, I did nothing. Jesus fucking Christ. He said he had heartcells and then told me I didn’t have a heart and started crying.” Tony defended, completely confused why the teen in front of him was reduced to tears. 

“Tony, he’s on pain medicine. Use that big brain of yours,” Bruce explained softly after making sure that everything was physically okay with Peter, all while trying to hold in a laugh. “Go over there and tell him you’re not mad at him” Bruce whispered to Tony and walked out of the room. 

“Kid?” Tony inquired before scooting closer to the side of the bed. “I’m not mad at you. Even if you are incorrect and I do actually have a heart, and therefore heartcells.” He teased lightly. 

“Really?” Peter sniffled and lifted the blankets off of his face. 

“Yes, Pete, really.” Tony reassured with a smile and grabbed Peter’s hand to hold. 

“I love you, Mr. Stark.” Peter said loopily with his eyes closed and huge smile on his face. 

Smiling, Tony squeezed his hand and replied, “I love you too kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if y'all want another chapter! Here would be a sneak peek: 
> 
> ******************************************************************
> 
> Waking up, Peter saw that no one was in his room. He had been dying to get out bed alone that he was confined to for the past week. Bruce was strict about him not bearing any weight on his leg to avoid surgery, but Tony wouldn't even let him use the crutches that Bruce had left for him. If he laid in this bed any longer, he was sure they would conjoin and instead of Spider-Man he would be Bed-Man. 
> 
> Sliding to the edge of the bed, Peter grabbed the crutches next to the night stand and braced himself to stand up. Bruce had mentioned that when going from having his leg elevated and laying down in a cast, the blood may rush down to his leg and cause some pain. 
> 
> Standing up, he surely felt that pain, but the more obvious concern was the alarm that was blaring from the room. What the actual hell? Peter sat back down in confusion, crutches still in hand. 
> 
> Tony heard the alarm and ran to Peter’s room, pausing in the doorway and crossing his arms. 
> 
> “Honestly Pete, did you think I expected you to follow directions? You’ve never been great at that.” Tony scolded as he walked to the teen to grab the crutches out of his hands and set them out of reach from the bed. 
> 
> “So you put an alarm on my bed? Rude.” Peter questioned bitterly while Tony guided him back into the bed fully and gingerly placed his broken leg on a pillow. 
> 
> “For this exact situation, yes. I’m surprised you lasted this long,” He responded with a snigger.


End file.
